Give these basketball youth drills a try with your teams. The first drill is a good one to use at the beginning of practice. The second drill is for boxing out. It is teaching the defense to hold a box out.
Transition Drill
1. Line your players up along the sideline in a defense stance with the right foot slightly back/knees bent out/feet point outward.
2. Place a basketball on the ground slightly in front of the right foot.
3. From I blow the whistle which they then pick up the ball and transition into an offensive stance/knee and feet turn in, correcting them when necessary.
4. Next whistle they transition into a shooting stance bringing the right foot up slightly in front of the left, with right foot pointed toward the basket.
5. We start off slow at first then speed up, we then make into a game (a bit like Simon Says or a two team competition – two at a time).
Boxing Out Drill
Take 3 or 4 players and line them all around the 3 point line. Then take 3 or 4 other players and put them in a circle right under the rim. The players on the perimeter are on offense.
The players under the rim are on defense. The defensive players move in a circle until 1 of the stationary offensive players shoots the ball. As the ball is shot, offensive players crash the boards, defense finds there assigned man and boxes him out.
The key is, offense can rebound the ball at any time. Defense must let the ball bounce before it can grab it.
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